


moonrise

by hyunghoney



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Mentioned Lee Minhyuk, Photographer Yoo Kihyun, changkyun is very gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 14:54:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15951635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunghoney/pseuds/hyunghoney
Summary: where changkyun follows his heart (and stomach) to the pretty moonlit boy next door





	moonrise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [formlk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/formlk/gifts).



> for mel, who is sick of sad changki fics

The clock strikes four just as Changkyun’s head strikes the desk with a resounding ‘smack’. Despite the pain, he takes some time to react, choosing to just rest his cheek on the cool surface and close his eyes. He feels himself slipping slowly, blissfully, out of consciousness, but reluctantly raises his head before he has a chance to fall asleep all together. 

 

His eyes are burning from staying up this long. He stares at the screen of his computer which has been on for hours, hearing the desperate whirring of the computer’s fan as it attempts to decrease the temperature of the burning monitor. Pitying the poor thing, he puts his computer on sleep mode – at least one of them deserved to sleep tonight, right? He watches it power down with heavy lids, feeling them close before he wakes again. 

 

Figuring he won’t be finishing his stupid paper anytime soon, Changkyun pushes himself off the chair he’s been on for the last few hours and stands. The world seems to spin when he does – a testament to how long he’s been trying to write his essay. It’s 4am, the perfect time to say “fuck it”, and so he does, grabbing his phone and leaving the room. 

 

The rest of his apartment is dark, and he navigates with the torchlight of his phone to hunt for snacks. Of course, it being  _ his _ apartment, it’s empty of anything except an empty bag of potato chips and a bottle of yakult. He sighs, but figures he can probably just eat tomorrow, assuming food will somehow have made its way into his house by then. A vague smell of chicken catches his attention. Changkyun lets his stomach and nose drag the rest of his exhausted body, following the smell to the door that leads to the balcony. 

 

Changkyun pushes it open, stepping outside. The door opens to a world of 4am noise – the sound of an occasional car driving by and some bird chirping, unaware that it isn’t yet time for the world to wake. His balcony has been undecorated since he first moved in, bare of any furniture save for an Ikea brand chair that he’d left outside to hide the shame of never having properly assembled it. 

 

In contrast, his neighbour’s balcony is an interior designer’s dream – a plush rug, a perfectly placed set of table and chairs, a few potted plants, and even a swing. The smell of chicken must be coming from his neighbour’s house, he realises. He doesn’t know much about his next-door neighbour, Yoo Kihyun, except that he really likes gaming with his friends at strange times of the day, has a gorgeous balcony for a guy his age, and eats an abnormal amount of chicken. 

 

They’re not exactly friends – Kihyun’s more of a huge crush that has never once acknowledged Changkyun’s existence. Kihyun, like his late-night chicken, is another craving Changkyun won’t be able to fulfil tonight. His stomach grumbles then, as if asking him to go get food now. He pats it comfortingly, preparing to head back inside to sleep it off. 

 

The door to his neighbour’s balcony opens then. Kihyun barely seems to see Changkyun, walking into the moonlight as if in a trance. He’s dressed as if to go outside, a bomber jacket thrown casually over a loose t-shirt and tight jeans. The light of the moon illuminates his profile, his sharp nose and pink-tinted lips even more noticeable with the rest of his face cast in shadow. Changkyun doesn’t lose his breath. 

 

Kihyun looks decidedly upwards, still oblivious to Changkyun’s presence. A strap hangs around Kihyun’s neck, his camera hanging off the end of it. Changkyun watches, shrouded in the darkness of his own balcony, as Kihyun, eyes fixed on the stars, drops less-than-gracefully on one of his chairs. His eyes follow the line of Kihyun’s gaze and he finally see tonight’s stars that had entranced Kihyun so. 

 

The night, as always, is gorgeous. Changkyun has never been one to long for the moon nor the stars, his passion lying in the light of the sun and the warmth of the daytime. Still, even he can admit there’s an enchanting beauty that comes in the dead of the night, with nothing for company but the patient friendship of the moon, and the silent song of those stars so far, far away. Almost as enchanting as the beauty of Kihyun tonight, shining more than the sun and the moon combined. 

 

The man in question stands at that moment, fingers around his camera. Changkyun stares, transfixed, as Kihyun raises the camera to his eyes. He hears the shutter go off once, twice, and the moonlight shines on Kihyun’s smile as he looks at the pictures he’s taken. Changkyun blames his wild gay imagination when he thinks he sees the stars twinkling in Kihyun’s eyes, more ethereal than any sky he’d ever seen. 

 

Changkyun’s been mesmerized by Kihyun ever since the other man first moved in. It was his first year living on his own, and he’d been taking a gap year to “discover his passion”, or so he’d put it to his disapproving parents. In reality, he’d only taken on a few internships, spending most of the time lounging at home watching documentaries. The day Kihyun moved in, Changkyun had wandered out of his house at 3pm, having just left the bed. 

 

Kihyun was laden with about three moving boxes stacked atop one another, grunting with the effort of carrying them to the door. Changkyun had walked over to help, but been ignored, probably because Kihyun was on the phone bickering with a friend (who Changkyun would later recognise as Minhyuk, the guy who always came over to play video games). Kihyun had put the boxes down, and Changkyun caught a glimpse of him. His hair was a little messy, sweat dripping from his forehead with the effort of carrying huge boxes all by himself. His lips were tinted with pink back then too, and they were pursed in annoyance as he dug in his pocket for his house keys. Still, Changkyun had found himself staring after the man and, call him gay, but he hadn’t ever really stopped. 

 

Now, Kihyun walks further from him, going to the other end of his balcony to take more pictures of the sky. Changkyun turns again to head back inside – drooling after his handsome, unreachable neighbour in the middle of the night is not the right way to spend the time he could otherwise be using to catch up on much-needed sleep. He turns to go back inside, and is doing a pretty good job of being silent and going unnoticed, until he trips over the stupid chair. 

 

For the second time that night, Changkyun’s face makes a loud ‘smack’ sound as it (and he) hits the ground. He’s too busy groaning at the pain to notice Kihyun whip around in response, and come rushing over. He rubs his injured cheek ruefully, hoping that it doesn’t bruise. When he looks up, Kihyun’s leaning over the railing that separates their two balconies, staring down at him. Changkyun tries to act casual, as if he hasn’t just been exposed for sneaking around a dark balcony at 4am by thunderously crashing into the floor.  

 

“Oh, hello there, neighbour.” is all he manages to say. Kihyun’s eyebrows furrow, confused. Changkyun uses the damn un-assembled chair to push himself back up, and focuses on straightening his clothes out so that he won’t have to meet Kihyun’s eyes. 

 

He hears an amused giggle, and sees Kihyun’s starry eyes turn into crescents as he laughs at Changkyun. Too late, he remembers that he’s wearing his pikachu onesie tonight – he’d put it on after dinner, planning to wear it to bed before finding out he had a paper due tomorrow. He finds himself pouting a little – this is definitely not the first impression he wants to give to his crush. He’s supposed to be witty and charismatic, not unwittingly hilarious. 

 

“Hey,” Kihyun finally says. “You’re Changkyun, right?” Changkyun nods, willing the blush to disappear from his face. He hopes that it’s still too dark for Kihyun to even see it. Kihyun smiles at him, the same smile that had been directed to the stars. Changkyun feels himself smile back without meaning to. 

 

“What are you doing up, Changkyun? It’s almost 4.30am.” Changkyun shrugs as a reply. “I was doing an essay, then I smelled chicken, so.” 

 

Kihyun laughs again. Did Changkyun say before that he loves the sun? What’s that, even, compared to the brilliance of this laugh? Changkyun almost thinks he can soak up Kihyun’s bright light and warmth right here and right now, and he’ll have no need to ever step outside again. 

 

“I just got home from KFC, actually.” Kihyun explains. His clothes make more sense to Changkyun, now. Kihyun shrugs off his jacket and throws it lightly onto the swing. He raises the camera again, pointing it towards the stars on Changkyun’s side of the balcony. Even though they’ve just been talking, Kihyun looks as far away as the sky he so clearly loves, lost in his photo taking, eyes filled with stars. He’s back to normal again when he’s satisfied with the pictures. He hops onto the swing, as he loudly elaborates, “I got hungry in my sleep, but I didn’t manage to cook today.”

 

Changkyun thinks at this moment that they must make a confusing sight – two short guys in adjacent balconies at 4am, yelling out to each other, one with a full face of makeup, clad in a bomber jacket and skinny jeans, another oily-faced in a bright yellow pikachu onesie that is too big for him. It’s not exactly a romantic meet-cute. 

 

Kihyun’s fully spread out on the swing now, lounging on it, completely at ease. His eyes seem to be fluttering shut, and Changkyun wonders if he’s just planning to sleep outside. He can’t tear his own eyes away from Kihyun regardless, staring at his perfect peaceful form. His camera’s still gripped loosely in his hands even as he begins to snore softly, head lolling to the side. Changkyun wants to reach out to him now, throw a blanket over that petite body, or maybe carry him back to bed. Instead, he turns away. 

 

For the third time, Changkyun starts walking back inside. 

 

“Hey, Changkyun,” Kihyun suddenly murmurs, voice nearly carried away by the night wind. Changkyun looks around at him. His eyes aren’t even open, but his fingers are fiddling with the buttons of his camera. “You wanna come over and help me finish this chicken?” 

 

4.45am. Changkyun shows up at his crush’s door, having changed into slightly more respectable clothes. Kihyun opens the door, smiling his stars-blessed smile at him, and holds the door open for him to come in. 

 

The apartment is as well-decorated as the balcony, and a few framed photographs line the walls. 

 

Changkyun has seen Kihyun outside on more than one occasion, camera in hand, capturing everything Changkyun had never once paid attention to. Changkyun could never understand, and looked at only Kihyun the lovestruck way Kihyun looked at everything else. Pure love emanates from each framed picture – Kihyun clearly loved everything he captured with his camera. A few of his friends, some that Changkyun recognises from their many gaming sessions at Kihyun’s house. A few pictures of the stars, the moon, the night sky that Changkyun had never truly noticed so much before.

 

Changkyun has always been more of a day person, having fallen in love with the sun as a child, but he thinks he can live in the night now. Kihyun trails a few steps ahead of him, flipping the lights on in the living room. A bucket of KFC chicken rests atop the table in front of the couch. Kihyun laughs, embarrassed. 

 

“I thought I was hungrier than I was, I guess.” He sits on the couch and pats the spot next to him, beckoning Changkyun over. Changkyun joins him and sinks into the plush seat. Kihyun places his camera on the table as well, and reaches for the chicken. Changkyun finds himself reaching, instead, for that camera. Kihyun sees, but doesn’t protest, so he grabs it off the table, turning it on. 

 

He clicks through the gallery, awestruck by the pictures of the moon. The low quality of his own camera can’t compare to this, although it’s obvious it isn’t just the camera quality that makes the moon so beautiful in these pictures. He remembers Kihyun’s eyes, full of love as he reviewed his pictures out on the balcony. He clicks a bit further back, and his breath catches in his throat. 

 

Changkyun has gone his whole life knowing he isn’t handsome. He’s average at best, and he’s at peace with it, mostly. His own instagram may be littered with pictures of himself, mostly selfies of him basking in the sun, but he’s never gone so far as to delude himself into thinking he’s handsome. 

 

But that picture of him… It was shot from a distance, just outside their apartment building. He’d been taking a selfie in the sun – it was very recent, he hasn’t even posted that selfie yet. In Kihyun’s shot, he’s positively glowing. The same love, the same warmth came from this photo as did every other picture of Kihyun’s, but seeing himself among it all takes his breath away. Kihyun turns to him at this moment, waving a drumstick in his face. He takes it, laughing, and puts the camera aside. 

 

“It’s weird that we’ve never properly talked, huh?” Kihyun muses. “We’ve lived next door to each other for years.” Changkyun just nods, not mentioning how he’s been staring after him, desperately in love, for all those years. Kihyun scoots closer, closing the gap between them. The warmth emanating from Kihyun’s body feels more fiery than the sun itself. Changkyun nearly recoils from him. 

 

Kihyun reaches for the camera, and Changkyun sees his eyes widen as he sees what the gallery is still displaying. He looks up and down from Changkyun to the camera, suddenly hesitant. Changkyun thinks this shyness makes him even cuter, adds another dimension to the starry-eyed, moon-loving boy that he’s been crushing on, from a distance, for years.  

 

“I know what it looks like! But I swear, I’m not a crazy stalker or anything!” Kihyun’s voice rises in pitch as he tries to explain himself. 

 

“Sounds exactly like what a crazy stalker would say,” Changkyun teases. 

 

He takes the camera gently out of Kihyun’s grasp, zooming in to his peaceful expression as he basked in the warm shower of the sun. How talented is Kihyun, to be able to make him look so beautiful? 

 

“It was just one picture!” Kihyun defends himself, indignant. He reaches futilely for the camera, but Changkyun pulls it further away, laughing at him. Kihyun sighs and pouts, and Changkyun laughs, handing the camera back. Kihyun takes it with a breath of relief. 

 

Changkyun wills himself to stop thinking about that happy, warm, positive him that lived in the galleries of Kihyun’s camera. Kihyun’s attention has seemingly drifted now, and he drags his laptop over to show Changkyun his other photographs, chubby-cheeked with a mouth full of chicken drumsticks. It takes everything Changkyun has to not just reach over and pinch them. 

 

_ Stop being gay,  _ he warns himself internally, when Kihyun gets excited telling him about one particular picture of the moon, and when his gorgeous eyes widen, becoming suddenly bright, and Changkyun wonders how he can be expected to look for beauty in the sun or the stars instead. Kihyun dabs lightly at the corners of his lips, pushing the bucket of chicken towards Changkyun instead. 

 

_ Stop being gay, _ he tells himself again, when Kihyun closes his eyes and leans back on the couch, his shoulder brushing ever so slightly against Changkyun’s. It’s hard, when he can feel the warmth of Kihyun’s body pressing into his side. Hastily, he picks up the camera to look through the pictures again, trying to distract himself from Kihyun’s unknowing intimacy. 

 

“I’d love to take more pictures of you,” Kihyun murmurs. He’s still reclining on the sofa, but his gaze is fixed onto Changkyun. Changkyun nearly drops the camera, his hands shaking too hard to be useful. “If you’re alright with it, I mean.” 

 

“What?” 

 

“You glow in the sun, you know. It was the first time I thought anything was more beautiful under the sun than in the moonlight.” 

 

Changkyun’s mouth becomes dry, out of the blue. He doesn’t respond immediately, but turns his head to meet Kihyun’s intense gaze. Kihyun’s smiling at him when their eyes meet. Changkyun, as always, does not lose his breath. 

 

Changkyun turns away, unable to hold that stare. He places Kihyun’s camera back on the table, wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants. 

 

“What?” He asks again. Kihyun has him lost; There’s no way one person can drag him through so much inner (gay) turmoil in the span of one dead night, even if that person happens to be the man he’s been crushing on for the past few years. Changkyun wants to believe that Kihyun means what he’s saying – that Changkyun’s made him notice the sun the way Kihyun has made him embrace the night. 

 

Kihyun shrugs. 

 

“I bet you’d shine in the moonlight too, though.” 

 

Kihyun holds out a hand to him. Changkyun, lost, takes it. He wonders why his heart is threatening to pump right out of his chest. It’s just his years-long crush asking him to pose for pictures under the stars after undeniably complimenting him. They’re even holding hands. Not that it’s a big deal. Really. His impending deadline forgotten, he lets Kihyun lead him back out to the balcony. 

7.00am. Changkyun sees the sun just beginning to rise after a long night with the stars. Five hours away from his essay deadline, Changkyun crashes on his own couch, exhausted. He wakes up two hours later, and wrestles with the last remaining clingings of lethargy for another hour, before finally getting up at 10am. 

 

When he finally rises, a note falls from where it had been placed on his chest. 

 

_ Thank you for being my model tonight (today?). You totally make a better model than the moon herself. Just kidding!!! See you around then, neighbour~  _

_ – Kihyun  _

_ P.S. I’m not a creepy stalker!!!  _

_ P.P.S. I wasn’t really kidding  _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> yes, i know, another gift fic!! can you believe this is my first work that doesn't include hyungwon at all? i hope you all enjoyed it!!


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